Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future. -Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Halloween

This was an unusual year, in that I didn’t go crazy with the decorating/crafting/costume-making. I did finally manage to carve one of the 2 foam pumpkins I bought years ago. That was a huge pain. I couldn’t find the tiny saw-like pumpkin carver we had in the kitchen utensil drawer, and I wasn’t about to go buy one, so I (stupidly) decided to use a plastic disposable knife, and my tiny craft scissors. I flipped through all of my October Martha Stewart Livings, looking for an appropriate jack-o’-lantern face. I finally found one in an ad, generic just like I wanted, and the right size. I traced it onto tissue paper, then taped that to the pumpkin, and went over the outlines with a pin. I learned that technique a few years back, when I tried the Lantern-o’-Treats. That was really neat. So as you might’ve guessed, cutting out the facial features and trying to make them as clean-looking as possible was so difficult and time-consuming. I even used one of our proper bread knives, a really small one, and I know you shouldn’t do that. It didn’t help matters that I was worried about breathing in the tiny foam particles, either. It was hard keeping the kids away. So I was not having fun, and freaking out about any of us breathing that stuff in. Oh, and I was doing all this on the dining table. I cleaned up afterward, of course, but I really should have done it outside. Idiot. I finally got fed up when it came time to cut a hole in the bottom, for the fake candle. That part of the pumpkin was hard as heck! It was like metal, I swear. So I brought out the big guns (or gun, in this case). I used a drill to make little holes in the bottom, and tried again to cut a nice, round hole. No go. So I ended up just drilling little hole after little hole, and ended up with an effed up, misshapen hole. I can’t even get the candle in or out easily, but at least it goes. I’ll do better next year.

My eldest wanted to be a witch, and instead of attempting to make a costume, or asking my girlfriend or mom for help, I decided to buy one. I found a cute one online, that included a nice velvety hat. I saw that they carried them at the Spirit Halloween store, so I looked for an online coupon. I found a 20% off one, so ended up paying $25. Not bad, I thought. So all that was left to get for her costume were black tights, and a broomstick. I ended up getting that at the last minute, the day before Halloween, at Party City. It was perfect, rustic-looking, and cheap. $3.99! I got her the tights at Target, they were on sale that week, thankfully. She already had black boots, so we were all set! I was so grateful it worked out nicely. Never mind that the hat was too small, as I suspected it might be, seeing as how my daughter is so little, and the dress neckline is so low, that I had to buy her a size S (4-6), and she’s got a big head, so I had to sew some elastic on to go under her chin, in order for it to stay on her head. Did it? No. Welcome to my life. And yes, I realize that was the mother of all run-on sentences.

Now for my son. That came easily as well, because my girlfriend’s daughter was going to be Spiderman, and I thought it would be cute if my son were some comic book super hero as well. Her birthday is on Halloween, and this year we were going to trick-or-treat, and have her birthday party. So we tried on both Spiderman and Superman at Party City, and Superman looked the best. My son’s got a good head of hair, and I thought it’d look so cute slicked back, like Superman’s. So that was that.

My 3-year-old received a Sully costume (of Monster’s, Inc.) last year for her birthday, made by the aforementioned girlfriend, and it still fit, so she was happy to be Sully for Halloween. All in all, a fairly stress-free Halloween. Oh, I did cram in some crafty dessert making, but just a little. I found these spider cakes online, and thought they were so cool. I like to think I’m pretty good at copycatting! Of course mine are sloppier, but that’s ok. I did not manage to get any decent pictures of the kids at the party, but what can you do? I always beat myself up when that happens, and this time was no different, but I think I’m getting better at letting go. Anyway, here are some pics.